The other side

So Jo Ann sent me this email today...and after a short exchange she said that she didn't mind if I posted the contents to the blog.

It started with this email that Jo Ann sent to Connie Crawford about my challenges with the pattern:

"Hi Connie,

Well the first dress went well and she got rave reviews but the second was not good.  Can you tell what went wrong? To me it just still looks too big for her.

Jo Ann

It is important to note that I did not ask Jo Ann to contact Connie.  It was something she did on her own. 

Connie's answer is here:

"Hi Jo Ann:

Thank you for your email. Since your email did not explain what you are comparing the dresses with (pattern numbers), I am guessing that the blog is what you wanted me to see. I am sorry to hear about your situation with this dress, however, I will offer you some hints as to what I think lead to some problems...since you asked.

In the red dress, I felt that the dress was cut without using paper (underneath the fabric). Many times when cutting a soft fabric (rayon, silk, polyester, light cottons etc.) the necklines will stretch out of place and make the garment look as if it has too much ease. Believe me this is looked at very carefully in all of my samples. Also, when cutting with paper, you can be sure to lay the center front EXACTLY on center without adding any unintentional grown from center front to the princess seam.

Now for the princess fit.... if it was possible for me to custom make a pattern for every body type, I certainly would and could. However, 80% of full figured women have lost their waistline by having a fuller stomach. Since it is easier to take in a princess seam and the side seams, I had to choose to make it for this group. And, this is the reason why we have included the princess fitting step within the sewing process. The princess seams also allow you to take out any amount of flared fullness and actually make this dress with a straight skirt look.

With the 45 years that I have been making patterns and conducting fitting seminars, I want you to know that I do make the patterns on full-figured women. Last weekend this dress was on a 1X professional model in a fashion shows and afterwards several ladies tried on this dress and it fit perfectly. I also have had several emails from women who have made this pattern and it fit perfectly since this pattern came out the first of March.

If there have been cutting mistakes, you can always measure the pattern and the fabric and see if there are any discrepencies in the pieces. I can always look at the dress personally and see what went wrong. Unfortunately, not all women are shaped the same, but I try VERY HARD to make these patterns for the full-figured women. NOBODY else does a full range of patterns for the ladies above a 2X. 15 years ago I dedicated my professional skills to make a collection of patterns for full-figured women. After all someone need to love and care for these women.

Also, on a personal note, I make 20 cents per pattern. In other words, this is strickly a dedication I have made in helping our larger customers.

Fondly,
Connie Crawford


As I told Jo Ann, there are two sides to every situation and it is only fair to present both sides.  Personally, I'm done with this pattern and will think 3x before purchasing another but if you own the pattern and have had success with it, would you kindly place a link to a photo in the comments so that we can see it?  It really would be nice to see some of  the successes because there are no reviews of this dress on PatternReview...and when I add mine it will have a negative bent to it based upon my experiences.

On Tuesday, I wore the B5620 dress to work and it actually wore well with the sweater buttoned over it. I got a couple of you look pretty compliments, too. So even tho the fit is suspect, it did alright in the wearability test and it will remain in my closet.

...as always, more later!

I'm too close...

...or Butterick 5620 - Part Deux

Okay I couldn't leave well enough alone...I mean it was really bugging me that I couldn't get B5620 to fit.  So what do I do...I go to the nearest fabric bin (the one in my bedroom) and pull out another piece of fabric (woven silk from Fabric Mart a few seasons ago) and proceed to make another dress.

The first thing I do is cut the pattern pieces down...size 2x on the top (it was so obviously loose on the 1st version) and a 3x on the bottom.  I lay the fabric down and cut it out.  I proceed to sew it up.  Already I can tell that this is a much smaller version...that's good, right?  Since I'm not using a border print and I've just made this dress, the construction is fast.  I mean about 2 hours worth of fast.

I slip the dress on for the first fitting and WTF!  Seriously, the dress is still too big in the bodice and too tight in the waistline.  Pulling out the pattern instructions, I see that the pattern has made an allowance for this possibility...I should take in the upper bodice seams and let out the waist area seams.  So I do this.  And yeah right...that's still not working...

At this point I'm disgusted and head for bed.  A good night's sleep always makes these problems solveable.  So after work Friday evening, I'm ready to tackle the challenge again...how to make this dress fit.  I remove 1/4" from seams...I add 1/4" in other places...I try the dress on...no good.  Something is off here.  So I pull out one of my favorite princess seam flare dresses, Vogue 9220, to compare and right away I notice that the front seams that go over my bustline are slightly off in the Butterick dress.  Because of that I'm missing the bust definition that I need.  Also on the B5620 dress, when you stitch the side fronts to the front piece, they form a cupping almost like bra fronts.  When you hold the piece up, it's formed like a mannequin...ummm this is a little off-putting.  Because when I made the V9220 dress, I did not have this experience.

Now I'm disgusted and feeling like I just can't sew...and it hit me...this must be what newbies feel like when they make a garment and it doesn't look like the pattern envelope.  It's been awhile since I've felt like this...there really was an anguish that washed over me and made me feel incompetent.  I swear I had to go and physically touch the last few garments I've made to realize that I do know what I'm doing.

So what to do?  What to do??  Well, my thought is that I'm gonna salvage this dress.  I've got almost 4 yards of fabric invested...that I could just let go of...but I don't want to.  It is obvious now to me that something is off with the pattern drafting.  It is also obvious to me that this is why I use TNTs so much...but I digress.

Another night's sleep and I fix the dress as best as I can...even tho' there were some serious moments when I thought about taking the scissors to it and making it a skirt...I realize that a cardigan can camoflage alot and I'm working the camoflage for all it's worth. 

Here's a few pictures of the dress as it is now:

A hand on the hip always

makes a dress look better

Except two hands on the

hips are even better

No spanx, no holding my breathe

...reality speaks and it sucks!

As you can see I added some sleeves...tho' I'm not sure about them.  I may take them out and just add more binding to the armholes...but I don't know.  What I do know is that I'm too close to this dress.  I need to let it sit.  I've done what I think I can to fix it and it's still not working...and I wonder if Connie Crawford's patterns aren't designed with apple shaped women in mind. You know women with large shoulders and large bustlines but who are slimmer through the waistline and thighs unlike this pear shaped woman who carries all of her weight in her stomach, butt and thighs.

So I am running, not walking, not stopping to think to hard about this to my TNT patterns.  I have a wonderful floral print on the ironing board (last step in the pretreatment process) and a coordinating linen blend.  I think a nice jacket and dress from some TNT patterns will help me focus.

Then and only then will I come back to this.  Maybe it should be sleeveless.  Maybe it should be cut off and made into a skirt, to salvage some of the fabric...but it's not working as is...and I know that if I'm not comfortable in it, I won't wear it.

Finally, please don't buy this pattern.  I really believe that something is wrong with the drafting.  Your comments were very kind and very real (Rachelle! *LOL*) but the first dress is ill-fitting and I'm well aware of that fact.  I may go back in and run one more line of stitching down the bodice front to get rid of some of the excess fabric...however, I'm happy wearing it with a cardigan.  I love the border print and the flare of the skirt.  As many of you noted, it really is the dress' saving grace.

Next up...questions and answers!  There have been a couple of questions left in the last couple of blog posts and I really should answer them, right!  *LOL*

...more later!

Butterick 5620

This is one of Butterick's new plus size dress patterns by Connie Crawford.  And the jury is definitely out on this one...

Stats:

Pattern Description:
This simplistic dress B design has front and back princess seams, a gentle flare, back zipper and finishes just below the knee. Button-front unlined jacket A with cap sleeves coordinates with this classic easy-to-wear dress. This classic pattern is fabulously feminine but has an office-appropriate look.

Fabric:
Linen jacquard border print from Fabric Mart

Notions:
20" invisible zipper
2.5 yards hem facing
3 yards white bemberg lining

First let me say that this is a wearable muslin...and I say "wearable" very loosely.  I don't know what I was thinking but I cut a size 4x in this pattern...why?  I guess I thought that if I made it bigger, it was easier to cut down than using a smaller size.  Well the joke was on me because I spent an entire day taking all of that extra fabric out of the pattern and I'm not that sure I was very successful in the end.

Barbara Emodi (Sewing on the Edge blog) wrote this article called "10 Sewing Rules to Never Break" for Stitches Vol. 19, No. 6.  Here is rule number 4:
"Remember that it is always easier to make a pattern larger than it is to make a pattern smaller"

Yeah well I should have remembered that before I started this project! *sigh*

So construction:
1.  The fabric I chose was thin and see through.  So I decided to underline the entire garment in white bemberg lining.  This was my second choice, my first would have been cotton batiste but it seems that I only have pieces of that left in my lining stash, not enough to use for an entire dress.

2.  So every piece had to be cut out twice, basted together and then serged finished before I could begin construction.  But let's not forget that since I chose to use a border print to make this, I had to lay it out so that the border print would work all the way around the dress.

3.  This dress is easy to construct and instead of nasty facings, the pattern actually instructs you to use bias binding for the neckline and armholes.  There are also very detailed instructions on how to fit the dress for a larger abdomen and how to raise or lower the armhole openings depending on how large your arm is.  I would give the instruction very high marks for helping a plus size sewist work with her particular fitting challenges.

4.  Like I said before, construction is easy and all the pattern pieces fit together well.  You just need to start with the CORRECT size to get a good fit.

So another shot of how I will wear the dress to work:

a good cardigan always

covers a multitude of sins!

I will make this again...I have to...at least to prove to myself that I can make it work!  I think I've narrowly escaped making this a wadder by using every trick in the book I know...and the fit is still a little wonky. The fabric is totally saving this dress.  At one point I almost pulled it apart and laid my TNT dress pattern over it and recut it.  But I learned a very valuable lesson...ALWAYS cut the right size! *LOL*

...as always, more later!

p.s.  I had lunch with some friends today and they thought the dress looked pretty good...I'm not sold yet...but look for the next version tomorrow...I just don't know when to say when!